February may be a short month, but I was able to find plenty of time reading during those 28 days. During February, I read seven books––a good improvement from the 5 books I read during January. I’m super pleased with the month I’ve had and the books I’ve had the opportunity to read. So without further do, check out my February wrap-up.
A Touch of Darkness by Scarlett St. Clair • 3/5 stars
I heard a lot of great things about this Hades and Persephone retelling, so I was excited to dive into this reimagination of the myth. As excited as I was, I felt like this book had a lot of potential but ultimately fell short of what it could’ve been.
A Touch of Darkness follows Persephone, a university student, and an undercover goddess. A goddess has not been born in generations, so Persephone’s mother, Demeter, works hard to protect Persephone. Persephone is the goddess of spring, yet she can’t grow a single thing. After a night out with friends at Nevernight, Hades’s club, she unknowingly makes a bargain with Hades and must bring life to the Underworld or be sentenced to life there.
Although this plot had potential, I feel like it mostly fell short because Persephone was annoying and made poor decisions. She obviously made decisions for the sake of the plot rather than her own character development. I felt like Hades was a more interesting character and would have loved to see more things from his perspective.
I also didn’t see the initial tension between Hades and Persephone, so when they started being romantically involved with one another it caught me a bit by surprise and didn’t feel as genuine as I would have liked. Most of their intimate moments also happened as a result of angry outbursts rather than passion or lust.
In the end, I thought this fell short of its potential. This book is the beginning of a series, but I don’t know if I’ll be continuing it.
The Inheritance Games by Jennifer Lynn Banres • 4/5 stars
This was another book that I have seen all over BookTok, so I thought it was worth it to give it a shot.
This novel follows Avery, a high school student from Connecticut. Since her mom died, she’s been under the guardianship of her older sister, Libby.
One morning when Avery comes to school, Libby and a handsome man in a suit is waiting for her and tells her that she is about to become a very rich girl. Avery and Libby follow the man to Texas for the reading of his grandfather’s will. The man, Grayson, is one of the four grandsons of the late Tobias Hawthorne. Mr. Hawthorne recently passed away; although Libby has no connection to the Hawthorne family, her presence is required at the reading of his will.
At the reading of the will, Avery finds herself the heir to virtually all of Tobias Hawthorne’s billions, but the will stipulates that she must live in Hawthorne House, the sprawling mansion, for a year before she can inherit her billions. Avery finds herself surrounded by the Hawthrone family and involved in Tobias Hawthrone’s final game.
I loved the concept of the story and felt like the mystery of the story was crafted quite well. I struggled to get into the story until about halfway through the book, but after that I was flying through the chapters to solve the mystery.
Avery has very different relationships with all of the Hawthorne brothers, but ultimately ends up in a love triangle between Grayson and Jameson, who are polar opposites. The three of them, along with Xander, the youngest Hawthrone, work in different ways to solve Tobias Hawthorne’s final mystery.
Nash, the fourth and finally Hawthrone brother, is immediately protective of Libby. Although we don’t see much of the two of them, it seems Libby has moved on from her previous toxic boyfriend with Nash’s help.
The four Hawthorne brothers as such unique characters. Between the mystery, the romance, and the humor, I was loving this book by the end of it and couldn’t wait for book two.
The Deal by Elle Kennedy • 4.5/5 stars
This romance was a reread for me. I read it for the first time more than three years ago and didn’t remember anything, but I found that I loved it once again.
The Deal follows Hannah and Garrett, an unlikely pair. They’re in a challenging class together and make a deal––Hannah will tutor Garrett, a popular hockey player, in order to make Hannah’s crush, a handsome football player, jealous.
As they spend the weeks leading up to Garrett’s make-up exam together, they become closer. As Garrett’s feelings for Hannah develop, he tries to keep her away from her crush in order to keep Hannah for himself.
Throughout the book, they explore their own traumatic family dynamics and histories. Although they tackle topics like sexual and domestic violence, they’re handled very well and make an impactful story with a cute romance.
I haven’t had time to continue the series, but I’m excited to keep rereading.
Layla by Colleen Hoover • 3/5 stars
I went into this book relatively blind. I’ve read other books by Colleen Hoover and loved them (if you haven’t read Verity, then what are you doing?) so I was hoping I would love this one just as much as the others.
Layla follows Layla and Leeds, an unexpected couple that met at Layla’s sister’s wedding. Leeds, the bassist, becomes Layla’s boyfriend. Layla encourages Leeds to start a solo music career, which they pursue once they move in together back in Tennessee. However, their future is jeoprodized after Leeds’s ex comes to their apartment with a gun, shooting both Leeds and Layla.
Six months after that day, Leeds and Layla have been working to recover both physically and mentally. Their relationship has desperately suffered, so Leeds decides to take Layla on a trip to the house where Layla’s sister was married and they first met.
I loved Leeds and Layla’s connection in the beginning because it felt so spontaneous and electric. However, after the accident Layla isn’t the same.
I was surprised to find that this book had a paranormal aspect. I didn’t enjoy how Leeds handled his curiosity about the paranormal and put Layla in potential danger. I began to hate things for some of the things he did and strongly questioned his moral compass. After reading the entire story, I’m more forgiving, but still don’t agree with the decisions he made.
This book has a big twist, but I felt like the ending was unsatisfying and quite abrupt. Unfortunately, this book was a miss for me, so I don’t think I’ll be venturing back into paranormal romance any time soon.
On Earth We’re Briefly Gorgeous by Ocean Vuong • 5/5 stars
I picked this literary fiction novel up on a bit of a whim, but was taken by the synopsis.
This novel follows Little Dog, the son of a Vietnamese immigrant. Throughout the book, he is writing a letter to his mother, telling her all the things he never could. He comes from a strong family of women; he lives with his mother and grandmother who relocated to America during the Vietnam War. The novel explores topics of race, class, sexuality, and even abstract thoughts like the meaning of life. In his anecdotes, Little Dog beautifully describes his challenges and the beauty of our finite lives.
Immediately after finishing this book, I wanted to start reading it again. Vuong’s writing style is so lyrical, fun, and resonating. I often had to put this book down to absorb information and reflect on it. This book is character focused, but it really means something, which was a great change of pace from many of the other books I read.
Little Dog’s perspective is beautifully written; I love seeing the world through his observant eyes. He weaves a story from seemingly unrelated things and makes something magnificent and resonating.
Because this is written as a letter to his mother, I felt like I wasn’t focused on the plot so much as I was about learning about Little Dog’s life as a whole. His writing didn’t always make sense––it was sometimes messy, much like his emotions––but it was authentically his own.
If you’re looking to start reading literary fiction and really feel something, but this on the top of your TBR pile.
The Hawthorne Legacy by Jennifer Lynn Barnes • 4.5/5 stars
The Hawthorne Legacy is the second book in The Inheritance Games series. Because of that, I won’t be including a synopsis of this book.
However, I will say that I love this book even more than the first one. The mystery continues in this sequel as it appears that Tobias Hawthorne’s mysteries aren’t completely finished. As they solve another game, Avery’s relationship with Grayson and Jameson shift and tension grows in their love triangle.
I raced through this book faster than the first and found it to be even better than the original. The Final Gambit doesn’t come out until August, so I’m counting down the days until I can finish this great trilogy.
The Roughest Draft by Emily Wibberley & Austin Siegmund-Broka • 4/5 stars
The Roughest Draft was the final book I read during the month of February. It follows Katrina and Nathan, former co-writers of a bestselling novel. Since publishing two successful novels, they’ve fallen apart––Katrina has retired and Nathan has published some lackluster solo novels. However, they’re pushed together by their publishers and agents to write another book together.
Four years have passed, but Katrina and Nathan are on another writing retreat together in the same location as their previous one. As they begin writing their new book, they must work through their former baggage and try to create beauty from the ashes they’ve created.
I really enjoyed the writing aspect of this book. Throughout the novel, Katrina and Nathan argue about whether they write what they feel or if writing can be independent from feeling. I felt like this theme tied in really well with the rest of the story and resonated really well with me.
I felt like their past made an impactful story, but I wish I could have seen more from the past sooner in the novel. Especially in the beginning, they reference past events, but don’t take any time to explain what happened. Instead, the readers are left in the dark and a bit confused.
I liked Katrina and Nathan’s dynamic as a couple, although I do think they jumped into the romance without building the tension––it felt a bit like a flipped switch rather than a gradual change in their demeanors.
Other than that, I really enjoyed this novel. The writing style is beautiful and the dual perspective ensures that you see both sides of the story.
And those are the seven books I read during the month of February. This year, I’m challenging myself to read 50 books. At this point, I’ve already read 12 books, which is nearly a quarter of my goal. I’m also four books ahead of pace, which means I’m reading faster than I could ever imagine.
I’m excited to keep reading and sharing my recommendations with you as I continue my challenge.